The Civically Engaged Classroom: Reading, Writing, and Speaking for Change

by Mary Ehrenworth, Pablo Wolfe, Marc Todd

Are your students ready to become the engaged and informed citizens our democracy needs right now? Your classroom can be a place for them to experience what it means to live in community with others, to balance their own interests with those of the group, to challenge themselves to overcome differences, and to ask the questions that help them understand the crux of an issue. Powerful reading and writing is fundamentally linked to civic education. The Civically Engaged Classroom is packed with practical guidance designed to support teachers in giving students the skills, knowledge, and tools to be active participants in society. Each chapter describes classroom structures, curricular possibilities, and specific lessons for teaching crucial civic virtues, The work of engaging young people isn't about giving students a they already have their own voices. The work is about teaching them to use those voices with power. If you are an educator and are interested in joining a community of practice dedicated to preparing the citizens this world needs right now, then the Coalition of Civically Engaged Educators is for you! Visit to learn more.

Genres: Education, Teaching

224 pages, Paperback

Published October 15, 2020

Reviews

[Rebekah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm using this book in my ELA methods course. It is fabulous. It's exciting to hear how the students are using what they're reading about to really think about ways to transform their future classrooms. The book is full of lessons and projects you can do with students. Even though it is geared more heavily to social studies teaching, it works well for talking with English teachers and humanities teachers as well. Highly worth the read. It's a great pedagogy book to have on your teacher resource shelf.

[Rita Shaffer · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much to reflect upon! There are MANY wonderful lesson ideas shared - we will do better for our young people!

[Maya · Rating 5 out of 5]

10/10 - My teaching pedagogy has changed drastically from this one book. I am stealing so many ideas. What wonderful ways to demonstrate how teaching is truly a political act.

[Grabill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Things have certainly changed over the last decade. The Civically Engaged Classroom, makes the very clear point that "Silence is not Neutral." While, this may have been seen as virtuous in the past, it is riddled with problems and privilege. This focal point provides a strong rationale as a teacher navigating and leading a class through tumultuous political/social times; not necessarily to have students think any particular way, but to engage critically with the discourse.

The book is filled with strategies, scaffolds, research, and rationale. A more socially just classroom comes from a space that is engaged.

Highly recommended read.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this book a LOT. In a lot of ways, it reminded me of Gallagher and Kittle’s 180 Days (probably my favorite English teaching book) because it was very practical and specific about materials and planning— with a somewhat different spin. Whereas 180 Days is focused more on literature, this book is an approach for research / researching and critical consciousness. Its limitation is (and I feel this way about a lot of teaching books) that it glosses over the massive resistance against trying to explore identity and how it shapes worldview (on the part of white parents and all administrators). The book has an asset-based view of community as curriculum and community resources as research sources, but it is basically like “yeah, you can totally make parents your partners! And you can totally just to go admin and say ‘I want to do this, so what is your feedback?’” I love the book, though, and I would strongly recommend it to teachers, librarians, and education professors.

[Dan Allbery · Rating 5 out of 5]

...Our great fear is that our young people will retreat and disengage.

Given the times that we are living in—both inside and outside of the classroom—it may be difficult to know where to start. The Civically Engaged Classroom may be that entry point that educators are looking for. It is responsive, practical, and grounded in NOW.

There were so many takeaways, but I like how Marc Todd put it in his opening letter to readers, "Change will come if..." His call to action was threaded throughout the text. Beyond the writing, there are amazing anchor chart exemplars and dozens of QR codes that immediately link you to organizations, more resources, and exemplars. These 200 pages are deserving of your time and your kids need you to be as well. Recommended for any educator, especially EAL and social studies teachers.

[Misty Martinez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am in a professional development course that read this book. The facilitator let me know that the text is more about Social Studies & ELA but he felt he could help me connect it to math. I found that it translated well to the changes I am trying to make in math instruction. It felt like I was finally tying together a lot of loose strings with the help of this text. It even referenced texts (Pink's book Drive) that I had referenced earlier in my discussion of the book.

[Stephanie Warner]

I read this for a graduate course. I can't rate a textbook because, blah, they're all so dry. It had its good and bad points. Some great ideas and not so great ideas. Some that would be pretty hard to implement in a regular public school. But it gives a good starting point.

I will say the fact that they work for Teacher's College and I think the Lucy Culkins reading program is pretty terrible did make me a bit leary of their advice.

[Melody · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked how this book laid out plans for getting students involved in social causes and activism. However, I found that a lot of what the authors demonstrate could be applied to general research projects as well.

[Ted · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Book. There are some great ideas, especially for high school students, contained in this text. Ehrenworth is always so spot on. Writing is probably the most heartfelt way for students to engage in change, and this book is a great road map for that change.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read!